Random Swimming and Playing...

Life in Brasil is almost as before I left the country last year. I am back to the swimming classes, and how I missed that while I was in the US. Every muscle of my body is in pain at this very moment, but I love this kind of pain... Yesterday I swam 450 m, and just before the end of the class I had a cramp. I was barely able to walk after that, I had to stop and the stretch my calfs until the pain passed... Today I swam 650 m, and no cramps, but I was dead after the class. It is just the beginning...

Sometimes I feel a void inside of me, and I don't know why I feel like that, because there is really no reason for it to be like that.

I am almost beating Rock Band, playing the guitar, in the hard mode, and I even started to play some songs in the expert mode. I am stuck in "Enter Sandman" by Metallica at this time. Each time I play this game, I have the feeling that I really should start playing something like electric guitars or bass.

Finally, the weather seems to be getting cooler.

I am having this crazy idea about letting my hair grow again to the point of a green-power hair, as I am green and not black. I hope this idea leaves my mind soon...

I did not forget about "The Day to Talk Like a Physicist", it was two weeks ago, but as I do not care about this temporal conventions, I still have time to talk like a physicist and post something about it in the near or far future... It all depends on my inspiration.

And, yes, I am back...

What is in my jukebox right now!? Superbeast by Rob Zombie...

I need to go home, and maybe find a new cell phone for me... I am back using my pre-cambrian communication device... Maybe another day, or yesterday in another life, but not today in this life... The music is over, so the post is done...

The Lethean Waters washed it away...

Sometimes we write things that seem to be plain innocent to us, but when we realize we have already hurt someone, and this someone might be the last person in the world you want to hurt. I did that twice in a matter of hours, and I am deeply sorry...

Today I am going to Goiânia to meet my girlfriend and spend the rest of the week with her. I dreamed about this moment for four months, and I almost lose it all due to some misplaced words at the wrong time... I love her, and I don't want to lose her...

I will probably not write anything else until next week. This will be a holiday very far away from computers, and I am sure it will be worth the four months of waiting. I will also use this time to rethink some things in my life... Things that have to change, and I want her to help me with that.

From next week onwards, everything will already be settled here again, and I will start to post more again. I have to fill a report about my 10 months away in the United States, and then I have a lot work to do. And of course, the gaming season starts again! I can't stand any more time without playing RPG... I will use some of my spare time during this week to plan my next game session, and players be ready for some hack and slash! :P

Last 19 hours...

So it is time to go back to Brasil again. These are my last hours in Ann Arbor. In this moment I am much more sad than anxious. Sad not because I don't want to go back to Brasil, but because I had to say "goodbye" to a lot of people I will surely miss. I never thought it would be so difficult to go back home.

I can say for sure, that the time I spent here will never be forgotten. It was one of the most amazing, and challenging experiences in my life. I am sure I am not the same Gustavo that left Brasil almost 10 months ago. When I arrived in Ann Arbor, I was totally alone, I did not knew anyone, and had no place to stay but a hotel room. It was fun to start everything from 'zero', but it was not easy. I survived more than one month without having a computer, and almost three months without Internet at home. I could barely understand what people said to me, and it was almost impossible to follow conversations. I lived totally alone for 2 months, and I had to learn how to cook basic stuff, and how to take care of my place (that is fun actually). During these 2 months there were days when I talked to no one at all... Many days without saying a simple word to anybody. And sometimes I felt really depressed... I also had a hurting heart, that was still trying to heal...

A lot changed after that. I don't know if all the changes were for the good though, but I learned a lot here. My cooking skills have improved a little bit (I guess I have 2 points of cooking, instead of just one). Now I am able to follow most of the conversations I hear, and I had not problem in understanding people talking in English anymore. My heart is fully healed now, and ready for the nearby future... I have met a bunch of people. Some of them just passed through my life, and I am sure I will never hear about them anymore. People that I thought were friends, but turned to be a great disappointment. And people who I will remember through all my life, and I really hope to meet again someday...

My last few days here showed my a critical fault in my personality, and something that must be changed at all costs.

My view about the United States, and the Americans had changed totally while I was here too. But I will tell about it in another post, in the near future.

I just wanted the World to be a smaller place...

Last days in Ann Arbor

Never spent so much time without posting anything in this blog. I am with so much stuff in my head these days that I can barely think about things to write. In less than a week I will be going back to Brasil, and next Tuesday I will be at home again. I am feeling strange these days. At the same time I am getting more and more anxious to go back, I am also starting to miss things here. It took me a while to make friends here, and now that I finally have some people that I can call friends, it is time to go back. I don't know if I will ever be back here in Ann Arbor again, and I may never see some of the people I have met here again either. I am sure I am still going to meet some of the people from the University, mainly the people that are part of the Star Formation group, I don't know when though.

I have already sent three boxes full of books, papers, manuals, cables and even clothes to Brasil. One of my suitcases is already ready, but I still need one more, and I have not even bought it yet. My table in my office is almost empty again, and tomorrow is my last meeting with my adviser here. Friday will be my last day in the University of Michigan, the day to say goodbye to a lot of people. I am never good with "goodbyes", but life goes on...

Oh sure. There will be a lot of drinking these days too. This Friday, people will hang out the prospective students that might be coming to the Astronomy Department next term, and of course I am going with them. And Saturday, there will be another party for the prospective students, but I am going to use that as a Farewell party... After that... Well... I will be drunk, probably, and I will also start to miss those people... :/

And... To all my Brazilian friends: 7 days!! And Thiago, I hope you have a bottle of Tequila for your birthday next Wednesday!! I also need to commemorate with my friend Humberto that defended his dissertation last Thursday, and as if that was not enough, also had a small daughter last Tuesday!